Skanda Purana — Mahesvara Khanda, Shloka 18
चतुर्दशानां भूर्लोके वासो वः पालनं तथा । अयमेव श्मशानस्थो भविता श्वा च वाहनम्
caturdaśānāṃ bhūrloke vāso vaḥ pālanaṃ tathā | ayameva śmaśānastho bhavitā śvā ca vāhanam
“ನಿಮ್ಮಲ್ಲಿ ಹದಿನಾಲ್ಕು ಮಂದಿಗೆ ಭೂಲೋಕದಲ್ಲಿ ವಾಸವೂ ಪಾಲನವೂ ಇರುತ್ತದೆ. ಈವನು ಶ್ಮಶಾನದಲ್ಲೇ ಸ್ಥಿತನಾಗಿರುತ್ತಾನೆ; ನಾಯಿಯೇ ಅವನ ವಾಹನವಾಗುತ್ತದೆ.”
Bāla-Maheśvara (Śiva in child form)
Tirtha: Śmaśāna (archetypal)
Type: ghat
Scene: Rudra assigns fourteen guardians to earth; one is fixed in the cremation-ground, marked by a dog as his vehicle—an emblem of fierce, vigilant boundary-keeping.
FAQs
Even liminal spaces like the cremation-ground fall under divine protection; nothing is outside dharma’s guardianship.
No named site; the śmaśāna is presented as a sacredly-guarded locus within Śaiva cosmology.
None explicitly; it establishes the guardian’s iconography (dog as vāhana) and station (śmaśāna).